Metra

Chicago had the largest public transportation system in the world during the 1930s. By the late 1960s and early '70s, the system was failing across the region. The Regional Transportation Authority was created in 1974 to keep the system running. In 1984 the rail board renamed the system Metropolitan Rail, or Metra. In 1987, Metra bought the Illinois Central Gulf's electrified commuter line and began operating it directly as the Metra Electric Line. Metra also took over operation of what is now the Heritage Corridor line and assumed ownership of the Milwaukee lines. In 1993 it took over operations of the Norfolk Southern line and renamed it the SouthWest Service. Metra has maintained purchase-of-service agreements with two railroads: Union Pacific and Burlington Northern, now known as the BNSF Railway (both railroads continue to own and operate their lines). Under those contracts, the carriers use their employees and own or control the rights-of-way and most of the other facilities required for operations. Metra owns the rolling stock and in conjunction with local municipalities is responsible for most stations. Metra retains overall authority over fares, service and staffing levels.

Related "Metra" Articles

Metra plans to roll out a smartphone app this fall that makes the phone a virtual ticket for customers, but some Chicagoans and legislators are concerned that certain riders will get left behind by technology.
Questions are also being raised about...

A sign posted above an electrical outlet in an inconspicuous corner of Metra's LaSalle Street Station warns customers: "Do not plug your cellphone or laptop or any other media device into this outlet!!!!! By order of the Metra Police."
The sign...

Chicago-area members of Congress on Monday raised the possibility — albeit remote — of a shutdown of the nation's rail system, including Metra commuter service, if lawmakers fail to extend a year-end deadline for railroads to install an expensive...

The first Metra trains to roll out Thursday morning were filled with raucous Blackhawks fans, squeezed next to the usually quiet commuters, with delays running nearly up to an hour or longer because of the crush of passengers and some mechanical problems....

It's all aboard for pets on some Metra trains this summer.The commuter rail agency's board Wednesday agreed to allow small critters in cages to ride with their owners on a trial basis from July 4 to Oct. 4, but only on one line, the Rock Island, and...

If the Barack Obama Presidential Center is built in Washington Park, the city envisions a walking community, where visitors would step off a CTA Green Line train and stroll along decoratively landscaped sidewalks, lined with pedestrian scale lighting...

Morton Grove police are assisting Metra police after a train struck a pedestrian in Morton Grove Monday night, police said.
The female pedestrian was struck on the north tracks by an outbound Amtrak train at Lehigh and Lincoln Avenues around 8:30 p.m. on...

The horrific Amtrak wreck in Philadelphia this week has renewed calls for the nation's commuter rail lines and freight railroads to install a high-tech system that is intended to prevent such accidents by slowing speeding trains and overriding human...

The debut of the Ventra smartphone app for tickets, scheduled for this month or June, is being pushed back until the fall, transit officials said Thursday.The CTA, Metra and Pace said they are working with a consultant with expertise on testing apps,...

The leaders of Chicago-area public transit agencies and Illinois elected officials from both political parties rallied Thursday for Congress to pass a robust, long-term federal spending plan to rebuild rail infrastructure used by commuter and intercity...

Transit officials on Friday demonstrated a test version of a new Ventra smartphone app that will enable mobile ticketing on the CTA, Metra and Pace.
The app modernizes the antiquated paper ticket fare-collection system on Metra. Customers will be able to...

Transit officials Wednesday laid out a grim scenario of service cuts on buses and trains, fare increases, layoffs and commuters returning to their cars in droves as early as summer if lawmakers approve Gov. Bruce Rauner's plan to cut nearly $170 million...

Penny Marchiel, of Aurora, doesn't need evidence beyond her own experience to believe that her train ride home has been Metra's worst of the worst.
"Absolutely. I hate it," Marchiel said of the BNSF Railway Line Train 1279 to Aurora....

Commuters who took Metra's Electric District Line trains to and from the south suburbs averaged only about one late train a month in 2014, while BNSF Line riders in the west suburbs experienced more than one late train a week.
The lines were Metra's best...

Despite January's cold and snow, Metra says it barely missed its goal for on-time performance. But that number obscures a dismal effort on its busiest line, the BNSF.
That line, which is operated for Metra on contract by the BNSF Railway Co., was on time...

When Marlene Tillis bought her February Metra pass recently, she was surprised to find out how much the cost had jumped: an increase of $14.50 to $92.75 for a month's worth of rides.
That amounts to an 18.5 percent increase — more than the average of...

Amtrak will spend $12 million this year for renovation work at Chicago's Union Station, including a redesign of the facility's often-crowded concourse areas, officials will announce Thursday.
The station also will undergo safety improvements, better...

Metra customers who want to bring their pets along for the train ride may soon be able to do so, at least on weekends.
The agency said Friday that if its board approves, it expects to begin a three-month trial program this spring allowing customers to...

Chicago's three transit agencies have fallen $3 billion further behind previous years in investing in new equipment and maintaining existing trains, buses and infrastructure, a new report by the Regional Transportation Authority said Thursday.
The report...

Evanston police are beefing up patrols along the CTA Purple Line and Metra stops in the wake of a robbery near the Main Purple Line stop and in anticipation of an Evanston newsstand selling Charlie Hebdo newspapers.
Evanston police commander Joseph Dugan...